You’ve done the hard work of creating customer journey maps, now it is time to take the important next steps to put those maps to work – Socialization and Activation. These two go hand in hand as one of the goals of socialization is activation, but let’s talk about them one at a time, starting with socialization.

What does socializing journey maps mean? When we say socialization we mean to broadly share and educate teams about the maps and how to use them. Socialization is key to indoctrinating the organization on the use of journey maps and helping teams to think about the end-to-end experience customers have with your products and services.

Let’s go through the high-level steps of socialization.

First, decide WHO you are going to socialize the maps with. Identify all the functional areas, and levels of individuals and what their needs are when it comes to knowing about and using journey maps.  Think through how they will be using the maps in their role and what they will need to know to be successful.

Next, think about the level of DETAIL each person or team needs. There may be some people, such as senior executives, that you just need to inform at a high level.  Other teams may need a working knowledge of the maps but could also benefit from a little bit of hands-on experience using the maps. Still other teams, such as ones who are going to dig deeper and primarily be in charge of activating the maps, would benefit from a full journey workshop where they get more immersed and get in-depth hands-on experience using the maps. 

Then, you will want to think about HOW you share the information. The format can vary; for example… 

• Presentation style – For teams that just need to be informed at a high-level, consider a 45-minute presentation on the journey maps, how they were created and how they can be used by teams.
• Team Huddles – These are for teams who want a high-level understanding of the maps as well as some experience using them. Quick 15-20 minute overviews or exercises can introduce teams to journey maps and how to use them. You can also create a series of huddles so teams can learn over the course of a few weeks.
• Lunch and Learn Sessions – Great for teams who need a robust understanding of the maps and some hands-on experience. A 90-minute session that includes an overview of the maps and one or two quick hands-on exercises. The sessions give teams a robust understanding and time to immerse themselves into the maps.
• Ideation Workshops – These are for the teams who really want to fully dive-in. Workshops can be everything from a half-day virtual workshop to two days in-person and everything in between. They include immersing teams in the customer experience and taking them through a series of exercises that build on each other.

And finally, think about how you can make the maps STICKY.  You want teams engaging and using maps on an ongoing basis. As you think through your socialization effort, think through ways you can encourage teams to keep the journey maps top of mind. This can include…

• Creating a virtual immersion gallery that showcases the journey maps as well as the research behind the maps
• Print out poster sized maps for the office or smaller desktop versions for remote workers
• Develop journey map workbooks that include individual, and group exercises that teams can do together either in-person or remotely

Check out our Journey Activation blog post  for some fun journey map exercise ideas. 

We always love talking customer experience and journey maps so feel free to reach out!

Sara Dougherty
sara@clearworks.net

Share this blog post: